Emmys 2011: Alec Baldwin Backs Out After News Corp. Joke Is Nixed

The "30 Rock" actor pre-taped a segment for Sunday's awards telecast that was edited out.

Alec Baldwin won't have a presence at Sunday's Emmy ceremony after a pre-taped skit, in which he jokes about News. Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch and the phone-hacking scandal, was cut, according to published reports.

On Thursday, the Emmy nominee tweeted, "I did a short Emmy pretax a few days ago. Now they tell me NewsCorp may cut the funniest line. #NewsCorphumorlessaswellascorrupt."

A later tweet that same day read, "I hope the folks at Fox don't go all Murdoch-ish this weekend."

Baldwin reportedly told Fox not to air the segment after the network edited out the News Corp. joke. The network then retaped the segment with Star Trek alum Leonard Nimoy, the New York Daily Newsreports citing a source.

On Sunday afternoon, Baldwin addressed the situation once more. "Fox did kill my NewsCorp hacking joke. Which sucks bc I think it would have made them look better. A little," he tweeted.

Baldwin will not be attending the Emmys, due to a prior commitment hosting a Tony Bennett gala. "No Emmys for me this year. I'm hosting Tony Bennett's EXPLORING THE ARTS gala. And I voted for Steve Carell!!," he wrote on Twitter.

Baldwin will be vying for best actor in a comedy series along with The Office's Steve Carell, Louie's Louis C.K., The Big Bang Theory's Johnny Galecki and Jim Parsons and Episodes' Matt LeBlanc.